Holocene floodplain diachronism and inherited downstream variations in fluvial processes: A study of the river Perry,Shropshire, England     

Antony G. Brown 《第四纪科学杂志》1990,5(1):39-51

This paper attempts to explain downstream variations in the rates and processes of Holocene floodplain formation in a small to medium-sized, lowland catchment in Central England. Four macro-reaches were identified and horizons from at least one stratigraphic cross-section from each were radiocarbon dated. Considerable diachronism was revealed with the basal age and hence minimum residence time of the top two metres varying from 1000-9000yrs. The trend, a decrease in minimum residence time downstream, is explained by the basin-and-gorge bedrock long-profile inherited from the Devensian glaciation of the area. This is illustrated by a positive relationship between the mean floodplain accumulation rate and the SL index (slope-stream length product). Pollen analysis of the organic sediments shows that floodplain clearance took place around 1 300 BP, but probably locally, pre-dated and post-dated accelerated alluviation associated with agricultural expansion in the catchment. This study concludes that (a) different macro-reaches in this small to medium-sized catchment have adjusted in different ways to long-term catchment changes as part of autogenic floodplain evolution, (b) this has involved a change in the catchment's sediment conveyance characteristics during the Holocene, and (c) an important control on channel behaviour and floodplain sedimentation throughout the Holocene (as well as at present) has been the valley slopes inherited from the Quaternary glaciation of the area.  相似文献   

Role of floodplain sediments in reducing the nitrate concentration of subsurface run-off: A case study in the Cotswolds,UK     

N. E. Haycock  T. P. Burt 《水文研究》1993,7(3):287-295

Discharge of groundwater from a limestone aquifer through floodplain sediments is associated with a large decrease in the nitrate concentration of the water. Results are presented to show that only a small amount of this reduction is caused by dilution of groundwater by water already present within the floodplain sediments; most of the effect is an active reduction process, most probably biological denitrification. The nitrate reduction process appears to operate independently of surface vegetation type and tends to be focused in specific regions of the floodplain where sediments are anaerobic and carbon-rich. The results suggest that active denitrification can operate throughout the winter, when nitrate concentrations in groundwater are at their highest and that the process remains effective even during periods of maximum run-off. The results show that undrained floodplains can be used as buffer zones to protect surface waters from groundwater polluted with agriculturally derived nitrate.  相似文献   

Floodplain sediments of the 2002 catastrophic flood at the Vltava (Moldau) River and its tributaries: mineralogy,chemical composition,and post-sedimentary evolution     

Tomáš Navrátil  Jan Rohovec  Karel Žák 《Environmental Geology》2008,56(2):399-412

Fine-grained floodplain sediments of the catastrophic 2002 flood deposited along the lower reaches of the Berounka and Vltava Rivers, Czech Republic, were not highly contaminated with heavy metals and other toxic elements. This is due to the dominantly mineral character of the sediments (C_tot in the range 3.97–5.01%, relatively low content of clay minerals), and due to the very high degree of contamination dilution by eroded pre-industrial non-contaminated floodplain sediments. Despite this high degree of dilution, the influence of the small Litavka River, draining the historical Pb–Zn–Ag Příbram ore region, is well visible. The Litavka River is one of important sources of Pb and Zn contamination in the whole Berounka–Vltava–Labe river system. The 2002 flood sediments deposited in the floodplain of the Berounka and Vltava Rivers show poor vertical chemical zoning, except for some components enriched in the uppermost layer by precipitation from evaporated pore-water contained in the mud, i.e. secondary carbonate. The content of C_carb of the sediments (0.05–0.15%) is partly represented by this secondary carbonate, which is later leached by rainwater, and partly by fragments of river mollusk shells. A majority of the heavy metals contained in sediments can be readily leached by diluted acids, and to a much smaller degree by rainwater.  相似文献   

Channel change and the significance of floodplain stratigraphy: 1990 flood event,lower river Tay,Scotland     

D. J. Gilvear  D. J. Harrison 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1991,16(8):753-761

During February 1990 a flood event on the River Tay with an estimated recurrence interval of 70 years in its lower reaches caused extensive flooding and geomorphological change. The most extensive area of flooding and dramatic geomorphological change, the erosion of two new channels across the floodplain, was in the vicinity of the village of Caputh, Perthshire. The location of the eroded channels relates to the position of former river courses, identifiable by depressions in the floodplain surface and floodplain stratigraphy. The lower floodplain surface elevation and occurrence of gravel and sand deposits along the line of the former river courses caused the area to be more vulnerable to erosion and controlled the morphology of the eroded channels.  相似文献   

Exploring earth system governance: A case study of floodplain management along the Tisza river in Hungary     

Saskia E. Werners  Zsuzsanna Flachner  Piotr Matczak  Maria Falaleeva  Rik Leemans 《Global Environmental Change》2009,19(4):503-511

This paper discusses a recently proposed conceptualisation of ‘earth system governance’ by applying it to floodplain management in the Hungarian Tisza river basin. By doing so it aims to improve our understanding of governance systems facilitating adaptation to a changing world. The conceptualisation of earth system governance consists of three elements: problem structure, principles and research challenges. These three elements are assessed using results from actor interviews and policy review. A regional example of natural resources management is found to be a valid case for earth system governance research. The proposed conceptualisation of earth system governance explains well the main problems, barriers and opportunities for adapting floodplain management to climate change in the Tisza region. Problem structure analysis highlights how previous socio-economic and political orders continue to shape expectations and patterns of conduct. Current barriers can be attributed to a lack of the key governance principles credibility, stability, inclusiveness and adaptiveness. Interviewees perceived the lack of credibility and effective cooperation between organisations as the largest barrier. The research challenges proposed for earth system governance agree well with opportunities identified for adapting Tisza floodplain management, calling for inclusion of actors beyond governments and state agencies, and equitable resource allocation in particular. The analysis suggests that an additional challenge for earth system governance is the prioritisation of actions to support an existing governance system and its actors in adapting.  相似文献   

Postglacial floodplain development and Mesolithic-Neolithic occupation in the Russian forest zone     

J. Vandenberghe  R. Gracheva 《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2010,121(2):229-237

River valleys have always been attractive places for human occupation. The history of Mesolithic and Neolithic floodplain occupation is linked with archives of fluvial evolution, in particular the intricate relationships between palaeo-hydrological regimes, ecological development and sedimentary environments. This paper describes floodplain evolution in the Russian forest lowland around Moscow since the last deglaciation. Although there is an obvious climatic driving force for the initial fluvial incision at the end of the last glacial, there are many arguments pointing to complex intrinsic evolution involving successive pedogenesis, floodplain accumulation, flooding and fluvial incision from the beginning of the Holocene towards recent times. Increasing wetness during the early and middle Holocene forced people to move from the lowest parts of the valley towards its edges until ultimately, during the most severe flooding episode (at around 2600 years BP), they had to abandon the valley altogether.  相似文献   

Floodplain inundation: Processes and relationships with channel discharge     

D. A. Hughes 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1980,5(3):297-304

The factors affecting the relationship between channel discharge and volume of inundation are discussed. For many floodplains this relationship is not simple, but involves hysteretic effects which vary according to the hydrological characteristics of individual floods and the way in which these interact with the surface form of the floodplain reach. Some methods of deriving or estimating the extent of the hysteresis on floodplain reaches are suggested, although an acute lack of available data prevents detailed examination at present. Further investigations are required before floodplain conductivity relations can be used as an aid to flood routing procedures or in floodplain management problems. A major priority must be the acquisition of sequential inundation data.  相似文献   

The late Quaternary evolution of the Negro River, Amazon, Brazil: Implications for island and floodplain formation in large anabranching tropical systems     

Edgardo M. Latrubesse  Elena Franzinelli 《Geomorphology》2005,70(3-4):372

The Rio Negro has responded significantly in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene to lagged environmental changes largely associated with activity during the last glacial in the Amazon basin. On the basis of geological structure, the Rio Negro can be divided into six distinct reaches that each reflects very marked differential processes and geomorphological styles. No deposits of the Upper Pleniglacial were recognized in the field. The oldest recognizable Late Pleistocene alluvial unit is the Upper Terrace of Middle Pleniglacial age (ca. 65–25 ka) (reach I), tentatively correlated with the oldest terrace identified on the left bank of reach III. At that time, the river was mainly an aggradational bed load system carrying abundant quartz sand, a product of more seasonal conditions in the upper catchment. The late glacial (14–10 ka) is represented by a lower finer-grained terrace along the upper basin (reach I), which was recognized in the Tiquié, Curicuriarí, and Vaupes rivers. At that time, the river carried abundant suspended load as a response to climatic changes associated with deglaciation.Since about 14 ka, the river has behaved as a progradational system, infilling in downstream series a sequence of structurally controlled sedimentary basins or ‘compartments,’ creating alluvial floodplains and associated anabranching channel systems. Reach II was the first to be filled, then reach III, both accumulating mainly sand. Fine deposits increase downstream in reach III and become predominant in some anabranch islands of the distal reach. The lowermost reaches of the Negro (V and VI) have been greatly affected by a rising base level and associated backwater effect from aggradation of the Amazon during late glacial and recent times. Reach V has acted almost entirely as a fine sediment trap. The remarkable Anavilhanas archipelago is the product of Holocene deposition in the upper part of this sedimentary basin; however, suspended sediment load declined about 1.5 ka, prior to the lower part of this basin becoming infilled.The progradational behavior of the Rio Negro, filling tectonic basins as successive sediment traps with sand in the upper basins and fines in the downstream ones, illustrates how a large river system responses to profound changes in Late Quaternary base level and sediment supply. The most stable equilibrium conditions have been achieved in the Holocene in reaches IIb and IIIa, where an anabranching channel and erosional–relictual island system relatively efficiently convey water and sediment downstream. Reaches IIIb and V never achieved equilibrium conditions during the Holocene, characterised as they are today with incomplete floodplains and open water.  相似文献   

Late Holocene development of a floodplain along a small meandering stream, northern Québec, Canada     

tienne Boucher  Dominique Arseneault  Bernard Htu 《Geomorphology》2006,80(3-4):267-281

This paper describes the activity of a small meandering stream and the development of its floodplain during the last 4600 years (calendar years BP) in the northern boreal zone of Québec. Three trenches were excavated across the floodplain's full width and permitted the interpretation of morphosedimentary units in relation to modern analogs. Chronological controls within trenches was provided by the dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating of buried tree trunks. From 4600 to 2900 cal. BP and from 1000 to 120 cal. BP, the channel migrated and constructed its floodplain at very slow rates, mostly because of low flow velocities, vegetated streambanks and the cohesive texture of marine sediments reworked by the channel. Vertical accretion rates were extremely variable on the floodplain, with high rates proximal to the modern channel and low rates over distal (also older) portions of the floodplain. Following a major channel shift (meander cut-off or avulsion) around 2900 cal. BP, channel migration appears to have been constrained to a narrow zone adjacent to the modern channel. Within this constrained zone, the migrating channel has reworked its own sediments leading to a marked unconformity between 2900–1000 cal. BP. It is thought that underlying marine sediments protrusions, and perhaps the forested banks, protected older alluvial sediments from being eroded during the last three millenniums. Our study shows that small boreal floodplains may contain, in a very small area, abundant and diversified archives of their evolution.  相似文献   

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN ALLUVIAL RIVER WITH FLOODPLAINS     

Blair GREIMANN  Chih Ted YANG 《国际泥沙研究》2003,18(1)

1 INTRODUCTION The transport of sediment in rivers with active floodplains is a two-dimensional process because the main channel and the floodplain can have very different transport capacities. Therefore, two-dimensional (2D) models are often used to simulate the streamwise and transverse variations of sediment erosion and deposition. Many 2D numerical models have been presented to simulate sediment transport in floodplains (James, 1985; Pizzuto, 1987; Howard, 1992; Nicholas and Walli…  相似文献